The line-up of this year’s 32nd Cinema du Reel Film Festival in Paris will include Godard/Mieville’s The Old Place and Reportage Amateur, as well as Richard Dindo’s promising Gaugin in Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands. Fest kicks off on March 18. (Cineuropa)

Speaking of Godard: “His devotion to the concept of the archive—including archival footage—is based in a sense of the object’s relic-like, totemic power that transcends evocation and memory to achieve a quasi-metaphysical incarnation of the past that restores its force through mythopoetic power, through the fact of its iconic contact with the past.” Right. (The Front Row)

Rian Johnson’s Life of the World to Come, starring the Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle, is released on DVD on Record Store Day, sounds a lot like that Jonsi doc, Go Quiet. (Pitchfork)

“Lindsay’s money situation has never been great, but it’s only gotten worse over the last month. For every dollar she makes, she spends double. Her personal appearance fees are literally the only thing keeping her afloat. But here’s the rub: Because of her explosive relationship with Sam, she’s unable to get the type of cash she’s used to. The negative press and constant appearance cancellations are hurting her pocketbook.”

We have the solution. Lohan needs to cut bait on her Mouseketeer/America’s Sweetheart persona and get in the art-house groove. There are plenty of directors out there taking home Cannes prizes and still starving. So Li-Lo, fire the agent, lower your rate and offer yourself up to them. You’ve already crossed the nudity Rubicon. Maybe it could be a journey into the disturbed psyche of a sexually frustrated woman. Or how about a journey into the disturbed psyche of an bored housewife. Or maybe just make a movie with Gaspar Noe. How about helping a poor auteur dust off one of those old Robbe-Grilletscripts that most be lying around? After the jump, we take a look at a handful of other glamour queens who decided to get their art house on. Lohan, hear us out: Jean-Luc Godard is still working!(more…)

Imagine a war between the New York Times and the New Yorker, and you might think of Walter Burns tossing inkpots at the effete Eustace Tilly. In fact, it appears to be the other way around. A.O. Scott’s elegant consideration of a certain type of American Neo-Realism has been blasted via a pugnacious blog post from Richard Brody. After an initial exchange of fire, both returned for another salvo. The various broadsides can be read here, here, here and here. But for those who would just prefer to fall asleep without moving their mouse, here’s Squally’s scorecard.

These films, he wrote, represented “an urge to escape from escapism,” an alternative to films like Watchmen, Knowing, and whatever else they’re condemned to watch in Greeley, Colorado. Each has several features in common with the classics of the postwar Italian Neo-realist movement, films such as Roma, citta aperta/Open City, La Terra Trema/The Earth Trembles and Ladri di biciclette/Bicycle Thieves. They are made during a time of economic and political upheaval. They use non-professionals in fictional roles that are close to their real selves. They are filmed on location and make use of “unadorned, specific” locales (Rome, Winston-Salem, N.C., a mountain village in South Korea). They emphasize work–whether as a profession, at home, or in the school. Although Italian Neo-realism passed mainstream American cinema by, these films look to foreign movies and are intent in showing the “American life that remains off screen.” While subdued in nature, these films can be ultimately inspiring in how they portray strength/resilience in the face of adversity.

According to Cartoon Brew, the film features clips from his work and new animations made out of Jones’ sketches by John Canemaker (The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation). The doc and interview portions appear to focus specifically on Jones’ childhood, which should give the Freudian scholars out there a little something to play with. The real meat will be what follows: 11 classic shorts dating from 1938 to 1967 and Jones’ feature take on kids’ classic The Phantom Tollbooth.(more…)

One of Jean-Luc Godard’s hardest-to-find films, based on a Richard Stark story and the final feature-length kiss-off to his cinematic muse Anna Karina. Characters named Richard Widmark and Robert McNamara make appearances, as does Marianne Faithfull. Due for re-release by Rialto on April 1.